Flyers Sweep Penguins In Weekend Home-And-Home Series

The Philadelphia Flyers (35-25-7) made a charge toward the Stanley Cup playoffs by sweeping both halves of a weekend home-and-home series with the Pittsburgh Penguins (44-19-4).

The Flyers, behind Steve Mason, posted a 4-0 shutout at home on Saturday afternoon, and held on after taking a 3-0 advantage on Sunday to win a 4-3 decision in Pittsburgh.

The loss by Pittsburgh on Sunday was their first at home in March since 2012, but Philadelphia has now posted a 10-2-1 record at Consol Energy Center, including 8-1-1 in the regular season. The second-place Flyers still trail Pittsburgh by 15 points in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division, but the Penguins have fallen three points behind Atlantic Division leader Boston in the race for the overall number-one spot in the Eastern Conference.

Mason made 25 saves in Saturday’s shutout as Philadelphia outshot Pittsburgh 40-25. Matt Read scored twice for Philadelphia, once short-handed. Scotty Hartnell and Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Flyers. Marc-Andre Fleury (34-15-3) took the loss after stopping 36 of 40 shots.

Read recorded another short-hander on Sunday, while Wayne Simmonds scored twice and Brady Schenn scored. Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen and Jayson Megna scored for Pittsburgh. Mason again picked up the victory, this time over Pittsburgh rookie Jeff Zatkoff (10-4-1), who replaced Fleury late in the first period.

The Penguins, who will play 10 of their last 15 regular season games at home, will host Dallas on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM. Radio pregame airtime on 96.3 KQW will be 6:30 PM.